on values and themes

Like Stephanie, I was struck by the conversation in the Bill Moyers video involving the feminist perspective and her demand to stick to particulars of a text. Stephanie writes, Someone asked whether or not a text that from our current perspective (and value system) could be read as misogynistic is redeemable or not. I think this is a great question. And it brings up many more, such as: Why, if this text is situated in a value system that doesn’t match ours, do we still look to this text?

I'm reminded of when I read Conrad's Heart of Darkness as an undergraduate, and we read an essay by Achebe accusing Conrad and the text of racism (and I agree with this). Achebe ultimately argues, though, that Heart of Darkness should not be taught in classes because of its racism. Here's where I have to disagree with Achebe because I think that it's almost impossible to find a text situated within a racist and sexist culture that is not racist and sexist. I think that ideology is pretty powerful, and that often, when we are trying not to be discriminatory, we still are, because the beliefs are so ingrained within us that they come out in our words and actions...

The feminist critique that claims we cannot ignore the misogyny in Genesis is important, and also limiting, I think.

When Stephanie (and myself and many others) ask if we should look a text situated in a different value system, I think the answer is: a) Yes, we should, and b) there are still values here that we share. We share values in Genesis of searching, of loss, of pain, of rejection, or struggle against one's brother. These are some things we still share w/ the writers of Genesis. And, I would argue, our society is still sexist, so we (our society, not us as individuals) still value the misogyny in the story. I don't think we'd read this story as sexist if our society wasn't sexist and this story was handed down to us without any history or context. It would be a story. I think...

Of course, we have to say, Yes, this text is misogynist (the Joseph story where Potiphar's wife is painted as the tempting, foreign other). And we can't look past this, either, I don't think, for values play off of other values. But I think we can look at both the particulars and the generalities, kind of another both/and thing. So, not a "yes, this text is sexist, but we can learn about struggle, falling and rising back up," but rather an "yes, this text is sexist, and we can learn about struggle, falling and rising back up." Just like Heart of Darkness: Yes, this text is racist, and we can learn from that and from the anti-racism in it, as well.

I like how Chris points out the good things about gender equality in Genesis. There is an importance to admitting that a text is both sexist and anti-sexist. Of course, there is a danger when privileging one over the other, but admitting that a text is complicated and both reinforces systems of power while struggling against them is important....